Semiconductor chips or integrated circuit (IC) dies generally have multiple electrical contact pads fabricated therein in order to provide a contact for external leads. The contact pads are typically provided in one of two configurations. The first is for edge contacts where the contacts are provided along at least one edge of a surface of the die. The second is for array contacts which are disposed on the surface of the die in an array format.
The contacts are then coupled to external electrical leads or thin film conductors which provide electrical contact from the die to the exterior of the package housing the die. The leads would then be inserted or bonded to a printed circuit board or the like.
In production processes, tape automated bonding has been employed where a strip of metal tape in a reel form provides a plurality of groups of metallic parts where each group includes interconnected finger contacts. These are connected at inner beam ends to the die contact pads by bonding wires, compression bonding, or other means. The outer ends of the finger contacts form the plug-in contacts or other connectible contacts of the die package.
In the industry, a need has arisen for a device having edge contacts to be provided with array contacts.
In addition, there is also a need in the industry to provide a multichip device formed by placing multiple chips in a single package.
Further, there is a need in the industry to replace the rigid standard type of printed circuit board with a flexible substrate.
Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a TAB tape translator for use with semiconductor devices which overcomes the above deficiencies.
A further object of the present invention is to provide a TAB tape translator for use with semiconductor devices which will convert an edge connector type device to an array connector type device.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a TAB tape translator for use with semiconductor devices which provides a multichip device.
Still another object of the present invention is to provide a TAB tape translator for use with semiconductor devices which is used as a printed circuit board.
Yet another object of the present invention is to provide a TAB tape translator which will reduce the input/output footprint thereby permitting more tightly packed interconnected die.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a TAB tape translator which has shorter parasitic interconnect paths permitting higher frequency operation.